I think you use a bad analogy. Gas is a commodity and houses are not.
IMO, in the event of an emergency, everyone from the refinery to the consumer should absorb some of the loss not, just the comsumer.
Whatever makes you think they don't? Big Oil will take it in the chops from Ike -- between damage to the refineries, interrupted supply from and damage to oil platforms and lost markets, they'll take a hickey that will be measured in the billions.
Sure, some will be covered by insurance. But insurance costs money. And it wouldn't surprise me if many of them self-insured.
When the oil companies were hemmorhaging losses back in the eighties, did you campaign for a price increase?
It is not a matter of absorbing a loss. It is a matter of a severe decrease in supply. Demand must be curtailed because there is not enough gasoline. If you control the price, you must have rationing. But rationing and price controls will lead to black markets. The price would not be spiking unless there was a severe supply disruption. Rationing may be preferred in the short run. There had better be mechanism to enforce rationing or a black market will develop.